For all the rhetoric surrounding strike rates, a far more insightful measure of a stallion’s performance can be defined by a single world – opportunity.
Winners to starters, wins to starts, prizemoney earned per start…these are all easily attainable parameters pushed by the media but rarely tell the full story.
When assessing a stallion’s ‘opportunity’ (or lack thereof!) there are essentially two components – quantity and quality.
Take Newgate Farm’s TASSORT for example.
This is a stallion that started out with relatively limited opportunity but is now, quantitatively, the busiest sire in Australia, having served 451 mares in his last two seasons (comfortably more than any other stallion!).
With a Group 1 placegetter (AMEENA – Robert Sangster Stakes) and 5 winners since Saturday, you can see why TASSORT has become a popular commodity among breeders.
Since 2023, his service fee has increased 350% from $11,000 to $38,500 while his average yearling price has risen 287% from $41,748 to $119,926 during that same period.
These results have come off the back of mating with mostly moderate broodmares (of his 68 starters to date, only 7 have a stakes winning sibling).
Even TASSORT’s two stakes winners – MANAAL and AMEENA – are out of unfashionably bred mares whose other progeny have combined for just 1 win from 14 starts.
So the quality component can only improve, simply by virtue of TASSORT’s newfound popularity.
Obviously, when a stallion is on this kind of trajectory, the window to buy affordable offspring closes fast.
Though Adelaide may be deemed too far-flung by some, it is where we were able to secure a beautiful TASSORT filly for just $55,000 + GST last month. Indeed, the Magic Millions Morphettville complex has been a goldmine for us with $12 million earner PRIVATE EYE sourced from there and more recently BOBS Horse of the Year IN FLIGHT (running in the Listed Hawkesbury Gold Rush this Saturday), FLYING BANDIT (running in the Listed Wagga Cup on Friday) and our Queensland Oaks hopeful ELIVINA (winner at Newcastle last Saturday).
The TASSORT x HOITY TOITY filly from Adelaide has more leg and athleticism than the sire’s archetype and is out of a half-sister to three-time stakes winner MILITARY ZONE.
This filly was identified at the sales in conjunction with our newly appointed Victorian trainer Charlotte Littlefield who has prepared 7 winners from her last 28 starters!
CLICK HERE for more information on the TASSORT x HOITY TOITY filly.
TASSORT x HOITY TOITY yearling filly